Humanizing Your Employer Brand

May 7, 2018

By Seferine Baez —

Technology gives us more information at our fingertips than ever before. There are millions of ways to connect. And yet, as Erica Keswin, founder at the Spaghetti Project, shared at WorkHuman 2018, “Left to our own devices, we don’t connect.” It can be challenging to communicate authentically, especially at a company level, but it is possible!

One way to easily humanize your company is to use real voices. You already have tons of brand ambassadors on your payroll. They already work for you.

Take Cisco for example. By enlisting its 70,000 employees to share #WeAreCisco stories on their personal channels, Cisco increased its recruitment reach by 2,253% on Twitter. That’s a game-changer. Not only are tech companies fighting tooth and nail for the same qualified applicants, but the competitive landscape of Silicon Valley means even current employees are on the lookout for better-paying opportunities.

Jill Larsen, senior vice president of human resources and talent acquisition at Cisco, reminded us at WorkHuman that the days of working your way up at one company are over. People are mobile and companies have to differentiate themselves to stay competitive.

Giving your employees the opportunity to showcase why they love to work for you empowers them to provide honest feedback – both positive and constructive. Employees in every department can offer unique perspectives and tackle issues from different angles.

When your employees represent your brand, they attract like-minded individuals. You can also become more attractive to a new audience by developing a mutually beneficial relationship with a likeminded company or organization.

Brenna Child from The Washington Post outlined how a partnership with another company can be a great way to reach a new audience. For example, the Washington Post set a goal of hiring more female engineers of color, so they partnered with a company with existing ties to that community to host an event honoring women of color in engineering. Of course, not all partners are created equal. Pay attention to their values and their content. Does it match yours? Are you strategically aligned?

When the focus of company growth is individual first, it can lead to collective growth. The connections you’ve fostered amongst your employees will create a community you’ll want to put on display and that people outside your organization will be attracted to.

Seferine Baez is a 2018 Workhuman Fellow who develops digital content for the conference. She is currently finishing a B.A. in English Literature at Fitchburg State University. She hopes to go into higher education student affairs and create opportunities for young adults to build character in and out of the classroom and discover their passions.